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Oct 13, 2010

Updated

Oct 15, 2010

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Before "The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes!" assembles on Disney XD on October 20, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Hulk and their fellow heroes fight the battle against evil right here on Marvel.com in a series of micro episodes debuting September 22! You can come back every day through October 11 for an all-new episode, as well as video interviews, character art and more on Marvel.com from now until the highly anticipated hour-long series premiere of "The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes!" on Disney XD on October 20!

Every week, a secret cabal of Marvel staffers gathers to discuss the best of the best when it comes to the House of Ideas.

Some incredible conflicts will be coming to the small screens starting October 20 on Disney XD when "The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes!" debuts.

However, before they hit TV, check out the most spectacular battles waged by Marvel's A-team as determined by the Secret Cabal.

As always, these picks reflect the personal choices of the Secret Cabal, not the official opinion of Marvel or Marvel.com, and can be considered subjective at best. Enjoy!

10. AVENGERS VS SQUADRON SINISTERWhere It Took Place: AVENGERS #70 (1969)The Basics: Serving as the reluctant champions of Kang, the Avengers take on the Squadron Sinister, four powerful-and strangely familiar-villains created by The Grandmaster.Why It Makes the List: The original four members of the Squadron Sinister were designed by the Grandmaster to equal the Avengers in sheer force. What helped the heroes win the day in the end weren't their powers, but their heroic fighting spirit. The Avengers knew that if they didn't defeat the Squadron, their world would perish at the hands of the Grandmaster, which gave them a cause to fight for while their opponents simply fought in the name of villainy.Spotlight Comic:AVENGERS #70 (1969)-Earth's Mightiest Heroes encounter the Squadron Sinister!

9. AVENGERS VS THUNDERBOLTSWhere It Took Place: AVENGERS #12 (1999)The Basics: Pursuing their errant member Hawkeye, the Avengers come into conflict with his new team: the supposedly reformed former Masters of Evil who now call themselves the Thunderbolts.Why It Makes the List: The Avengers had to question Hawkeye's aim in trying to reform the Thunderbolts, and it got ugly along the way. Eventually the Avenging Archer managed to convince the heroes that the formerly-villainous T-Bolts were indeed earnest in their quest for redemption, continuing the Avengers' tradition of giving people a second chance begun when Captain America brought The Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and Hawkeye himself into the fold.Spotlight Comic:AVENGERS #12 (1999)-Thunderbolts vs Avengers!

8. ACTS OF VENGEANCEWhere It Took Place: AVENGERS #311-313, AVENGERS WEST COAST #53-55 (1989-1990)The Basics: Bitter at having inadvertently caused the Avengers' formation years earlier, Loki secretly gathers Doctor Doom, The Kingpin, Magneto, The Mandarin, The Red Skull and The Wizard to command Earth's super villains against heroes they wouldn't normally face in order to throw them off course.Learn More...hereWhy It Makes the List: Loki threw the Avengers off their guard by pitting them against villains they wouldn't normally face, requiring them to change up their game. Nonetheless, the individual members managed to prove their skill, and the collective team discovers Loki's hand behind it all and put the kibosh on the Trickster. Because in the end, nothing can trip the Avengers up, no matter how hard their enemies may try.Spotlight Comic:AVENGERS WEST COAST #54-The Mole Man plagues the West Coast Avengers!

7. THE KANG DYNASTYWhere It Took Place: AVENGERS #41-55 (2001-2002)The Basics: Longtime Avengers foe Kang brings an army from the future, under the command of his son, Marcus, and makes his most ambitious play to conquer the present ever. With Kang closer than ever to his goal, every hero to ever serve as an Avenger as well as some special tricks will be needed to defeat the Conqueror this time.Why It Makes the List: Perhaps one of the most epic Avengers stories ever, as every member of the team past and present from Thor to Jack of Hearts battled Kang's forces the world over and facing other threats such as The Presence, Attuma and The Master of the World along the way. The Conqueror would even gain momentary victory, forcing The Wasp to surrender on Earth's behalf, but ultimately he would fall to Captain America in a simple battle of fisticuffs, a fittingly ironic end to such a large scale war.Spotlight Comic:AVENGERS #49 (2002)-Kang's silent conquest of the Earth!

6. SIEGEWhere It Took Place: SIEGE #1-4, NEW AVENGERS #61-64, DARK AVENGERS #13-16 (2010)The Basics: With his dark reign of power teetering precariously, Norman Osborn leads his Dark Avengers and Initiative allies in a siege on Asgard, hoping to use its populace as scapegoats. The newly-returned Steve Rogers leads a team of true Avengers and their allies to aid Thor and his people, but The Sentry proves to be a greater threat than any could imagine.Learn More...hereWhy It Makes the List: It was a long time coming. First, Civil War tore the Avengers apart; then, Captain America was seemingly lost for good; finally, the Skrull invasion gave Norman Osborn the opportunity to slip in and form his own skewed take on Earth's Mightiest Heroes. When Steve Rogers slung his mighty shield at the erstwhile Iron Patriot and reunited with Thor and Iron Man to dismantle Dark Reign, it was a thing of beauty. While it didn't come without the price of two of their own, the Avengers would return to glory even as Asgard fell around them.Spotlight Comic:SIEGE DIGITAL PROLOGUE #1-The road to Siege!

5. SECRET INVASIONWhere It Took Place: SECRET INVASION #1-8, NEW AVENGERS #38-47, MIGHTY AVENGERS #12-20 (2008-2009)The Basics: After years of infiltrating Earth and its most powerful organizations, the shape-shifting Skrulls launch an all-out invasion, intending to take the planet as their own. Two Avengers team harried by in-fighting, betrayal and casualties must unite to drive back the alien force.Learn More...hereWhy It Makes the List: The Avengers had fought the Skrulls before, but this time the aliens managed to implant seeds of distrust amongst the team that almost crippled them. Not sure who they could count on and who was a Skrull, the Avengers had to pull together all the same if they hoped to stop the total takeover of the world; the fact that they could showed just why we call them Earth's Mightiest Heroes.Spotlight Comic:Secret Invasion #1-The invasion begins!

4. ULTRON UNLIMITEDWhere It Took Place: AVENGERS #19-22 (1999)The Basics: Ultron and an army of his past models conquer the nation of Slorenia, slaughtering its citizenry, also kidnapping several Avengers with designs on using their brain patterns to create a robotic race to supersede humanity. Thor, Captain America and a small group of allies storm the foreign land, ready to shut the mechanical menace for good.Why It Makes the List: Ultron has always been among the Avengers most implacable opponents, but never was he more deadly than when he took over Slorenia and basically dared his most hated rivals to challenge him, lighting a funeral pyre of innocent victims to place an exclamation mark on his taunt. The sight of a battle-worn Thor, dismembered robots dangling from his limbs, delivering the classic line "Ultron, we would have words with thee," is not one we'll soon forget. Everybody from Avengers newbie Justice to founding member Hank Pym acquitted themselves impressively in this grave challenge.Spotlight Comic:AVENGERS: ULTRON IMPERATIVE #1-The aftermath of Ultron Unlimited!

3. UNDER SIEGEWhere It Took Place: AVENGERS #273-277 (1986-1987)The Basics: Baron Helmut Zemo brings together the largest Masters of Evil group ever in a bid to destroy Captain America and the Avengers. Zemo and his team capture Jarvis, beat Hercules into a coma and take Avengers Mansion, forcing a motley assemblage of Earth's Mightiest Heroes into action.Learn More...hereWhy It Makes the List: It was the Avengers' darkest hour. Never had they been so badly beaten and so close to utter defeat. One of their most powerful members-a demigod!-lay lifeless in a hospital bed. Their innocent butler suffered unspeakable indignities. Their very home was crumbling around them. And despite it all, despite being reduced to a cavalry with the likes of The Wasp, Doctor Druid and Paladin at the forefront, they valiantly struggled onward and proved their worth yet again. Zemo came up with the perfect plan accounting for every variable but for one: never count out the Avengers.Spotlight Comic:AVENGERS #277-The Masters of Evil and Avengers in final battle!

2. THE KORVAC SAGAWhere It Took Place: AVENGERS #173-177 (1978)The Basics: Traveling back in time and absorbing a portion of the Power Cosmic from Galactus, the cyborg Michael Korvac becomes near omnipotent and undertakes a questionable agenda to purportedly transform Earth into a utopia. Korvac's intentions are misinterpreted by the Avengers, who enter a deadly battle with him and his mate, Carina.Learn More...hereWhy It Makes the List: While all the battles on this list could easily qualify as the toughest the Avengers have ever fought, this one stands out from all the rest for one simple reason: The Avengers didn't win. In fact, some of their biggest powerhouses such as Thor, Iron Man and Captain Marvel couldn't even stun Korvac. In the end, his beloved Carina-herself the daughter of the Collector, and the wielder of great cosmic power-ended Korvac's threat. Despite such incredible odds, though, the Avengers never gave up, willing to sacrifice everything they had for the slim chance it would be enough to prevent a cataclysm.Spotlight Comic:AVENGERS #175-Korvac reveals himself!

1. THE KREE/SKRULL WARWhere It Took Place: AVENGERS #89-97 (1971-1972)The Basics: Both the Kree and Skrull extraterrestrial races attempt to establish beachheads on Earth in order to gain a tactical advantage in their long-running conflict against one another. The Avengers interject, battling their foes both planet-side and into outer space, but ultimately the hidden powers of Rick Jones, unlocked the by the Kree Supreme Intelligence, drives the war to a temporary halt.Why It Makes the List: While they had proven themselves against every threat from Loki and Kang to Ultron and the Masters of Evil, the Avengers went beyond just being Earth's Mightiest Heroes when they chose to take to the stars and attempt to stem the Kree-Skrull War. The team entered into a situation dire even for the likes of Thor, to say nothing of Captain America or Goliath, not only to safeguard humanity as they had long vowed, but to attempt to steer the paths of two races who had only ever proven hostile towards peace. Did we mention that the Avengers did all this in the midst of a public campaign against them instigated by a Skrull impersonator? Or that regular human Rick Jones rose to the occasion at the clutch moment? Hardcore.Spotlight Comic:AVENGERS #96-Avengers in space!

Comments

if you're talking Eath Battles... I think Onslaught should have made the list. I mean the heroes practically sacrificed themselves in order to beat him. Avengers vs Thunderbolts? how is that one of Earth's Mighties Battles